Governor’s Budget Proposes More Than $643 Million for UT

KNOXVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee presented his 2019-20 budget recommendations, including more than $643.8 million in appropriations for the University of Tennessee, to the General Assembly during his State of the State address in Nashville Monday night.

“We appreciate Gov. Lee’s commitment to the University of Tennessee,” UT Interim President Randy Boyd said. “His proposed budget allows us to make much needed security upgrades, provide raises for our faculty and staff and increase our medical outreach to rural parts of Tennessee.”

If approved by the General Assembly, this will be the largest appropriation made to the University of Tennessee.

Included in the budget proposal is $10 million for improvements to student safety and security infrastructure at all UT campuses.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students,” said Boyd. “These funds will allow us to make much-needed improvements to buildings on all of our campuses to better protect students and faculty against potential breaches in campus security.”

Lee also proposed the University receive more than $17.7 million for faculty and staff salary increases and $81.5 million in capital appropriations for the UT Institute of Agriculture’s new Energy and Environmental Science building.

In addition, the recommended budget includes $3 million in recurring funds to match $5.7 million of federal funding for the Graduate Medical Education program in the Bureau of TennCare. This will increase the amount of financial assistance available to UT Health Science Center to fund approximately 100 medical students to work in medically underserved areas in rural communities across Tennessee.